Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2008 Track 1 - Dracula Prince Of Darkness

And away we go!! Starting off the Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2008 in a particularly scorching fashion is the man King Horror and his tune from 1969 called "Dracula Prince Of Darkness" produced by Joe "The Boss" Mansano and originally released as a 7" on the appropriately titled Joe label. As we discussed in 2006, King Horror was the alter-ego of ska pioneer Laurel Aitken and this gruff voiced threatening impersonation of the Prince Of Darkness is one of my favorites! When King Horror says, "Runnnn! I'm coming to destroy you!," you definitely feel as if you should heed his warning!

Obviously Aitken/Horror was inspired by the 1966 Hammer Film Productions film of the same name. In Dracula Prince Of Darkness, Christopher Lee reprises his role as the bloodthirsty Count; a role he originally played in 1958 when he starred alongside ongoing screen nemesis Peter Cushing in director Terence Fisher's original production of Stoker's Dracula called The Horror Of Dracula.

I first saw this one on Chiller Theatre when I was a kid. I know I probably still have the edited for late night television version, complete with all the period correct commercials from 1983, on a moldy VHS somewhere. I remember fighting off sleep like a champ just to make it until 1:30 AM with the absolute intention of using the hard wired remote to pause recording whenever they went to a commercial break. Now either one of two things happened... I would stay awake just long enough for the movie to start getting too scary and would then just leave the VCR to do its work without me. That way I could therefore pick up where I left off the next day when the sun was shining outside and the family room didn't feel so menacing. Or, if I knew there was no chance of me making it to Chiller Theatre's time slot, I would just put the VCR on its lowest speed and hit record before passing out on the sofa. Now... if I remember correctly, Dracula Prince Of Darkness was one that required a mid-movie autopilot.

Track 1